


Tug of War

by sometimesilie (Serpentsign)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Jakku: the speedrun, Kidnapping, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:15:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25289689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serpentsign/pseuds/sometimesilie
Summary: Poe meets his soulmate at literally the worst possible time. And then Poe kidnaps him. It all works out in the end.Written for day two of Gingerpilotweek2020 for the theme Soulmates.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux
Comments: 10
Kudos: 109
Collections: Gingerpilot Week 2020





	Tug of War

**Author's Note:**

> *Shows up 2 days late with starbucks and a soulmate fic*
> 
> Hux doesn't have any loyalty to the Order and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Poe felt a small tug in his stomach as the stormtrooper lead him through the seemingly identical corridors of the Finalizer. He was muttering to himself through the vocalizer to keep calm, keep walking and not throw up. Maybe this rebel trooper was it, the person he’d been waiting for. It would be such a good story to tell at parties, Poe mused. How did you two meet? Oh, he saved me from a torture chair when he was running away from a fascist military junta. So romantic.

It wasn’t as life changing as Poe had imagined, and there was also the fact that the trooper was more interested in running away than staring soulfully into Poe’s eyes, which Poe was to understand was the norm for soulmate meetings.

But the tug was only getting stronger and more insistent.

A door seal opened in front of them with a hiss and there, staring right back at them, was General Hux looking even more constipated in person than he did on any of the hacked broadcasts the Resistance got their hands on. Any thought of finding his soulmate disappeared completely as Poe felt his stomach drop and his whole body go cold. With the exception of Kylo Ren, this was the worst possible person to run into.

“Oh shit,” the trooper said weakly. Poe rolled his eyes. Not much of an actor this one. Hux, who had recovered from his chock, quickly rounded on the stormtrooper, towering over him.

“And just where do you think you’re going?”

“…brig, sir. Kylo Ren’s request,” the trooper said, almost convincingly.

“FN-2187, is it? Phasma must have failed to note in your file that you are directionally challenged. The brig is in the opposite end of the ship.”

“We’re taking the scenic route,” Poe said. Hux raised his gaze from FN-2817 and-

Oh.

Oh no.

The tug was back, but this time it felt more like his entire body was being squeezed and expanded at the same time. His lungs constricted while his heart felt like it was about to burst. Hux looked like he was about to throw up and had put his gloved hand in front of his mouth.

So, how did the two of you meet? Oh, he strapped me to a torture chair and let his force buddy dig around in my brain for hours.

“Oh no,” the trooper said, looking between the two of them.

“This isn’t possible.” Hux bit out.

“Listen, I’m not thrilled either, buddy. I’d much rather it was this guy,” Poe waved in the trooper’s direction with his bound hands, not breaking eye contact.

“You do?” FN-2187 asked faintly.

Hux’s face went through some complicated emotions on its way to stony determination. His eyes looked very blue as the cool lighting of the Star Destroyer washed out any other colours.

“I can’t let you go,” Hux said, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. He didn’t look away from Poe.

“Well that’s fine, because we’re taking you with us.”

“We are?” FN-2187 asked.

“Absolutely. Now point your blaster at the General so he doesn’t get any ideas.”

Hux spluttered at the blaster being pointed at him and looked very much like he had several ideas of what he wanted to do to Poe and the trooper at that very moment. But in the face of a blaster muzzle, even the great General of the First Order will do as he is told.

The hangar was full off officers and troopers milling around, which was a good thing because it gave them some cover. Even Hux’s presence helped as people tended to very carefully not pay attention to their high-ranking officers when they were in the room and instead focused extra hard on looking busy.

They carefully found a row of Special Forces TIE fighters with a dead angle from the observation station a floor up and shoved Hux into it before climbing in.

Like everything else on the Finalizer, the TIE fighter interior was spotless and looked factory new with some exciting gadgets that Poe really wanted to get his hands on. It also didn’t smell of twenty years of sweat and engine grease which Poe had mostly gotten used to in the Resistance.

The first problem was how to arrange three bodies in a cockpit that was only meant to fit two. In the end Poe took one of the seats while FN-2187 took the other and Hux was wedged into the space between the ladder to the hatch and the two seats. He did not look happy.

The second problem was the winch.

“Why do you even have those?” Poe snapped as he decoupled the TIE and the navigated the ship out of the hangar, weaving between blaster bolts and canon fire.

“So that people don’t steal the TIEs,” Hux said pointedly.

FN-2187, now Finn, took to gunning down pursuing TIE fighters like a fish to water and Poe whooped loudly. The speed of this thing was something else, the responsiveness of the controls alone sent shivers down his spine.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, Dameron,” Hux was clinging to the rungs of the ladder.

“Are you kidding me? I’ve always wanted to fly one of these things.”

“It will be a very short flight unless you get out of range of those TIE canons,” Hux said crisply.” Engage the missile launchers and toggle the deflector shields to focus on the rear.”

“Does every General know how to fly a TIE?”

“Only if they designed it.”

“Uh, guys? Why are they priming the big guns?” Finn’s voice was shaking with adrenaline, “Don’t they know the General is on board?”

Suddenly, Hux appeared and leaned over Poe’s shoulder, fingers flickering across the screens.

“This is General Hux to the Finalizer. Do you copy?” A few seconds passed as the comms connected and was transferred to the bridge.

“This is Captain Peavy, sir. We copy.” A man, definitely older than Hux said calmly, like he wasn’t currently aiming large ion canons at his own commander.

“Stand down the ventral canons immediately.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir.” Peavy did not sound sorry at all.

“I said stand down the canons, Captain. That is an order.”

“You let yourself be captured by Resistance scum without even an attempt at struggle. You’d almost think-“

“Captain, this is your last chance. Disengage the canons and have the TIEs escort us down to Jakku.” There was a short pause over the comms before Peavy spoke again.

“The weapon you designed is almost ready. It occurs to me that we no longer have use of your tinkering.” Another pause and then he added: “Your father always said you were useless. Finalizer, out.”

Hux swore and shouted:

“Dameron, get us out of here now!”

“Gladly!” Hux ducked down again, brazing himself to the wall of the cockpit.

“Finn, aim for the canons, I’ll deal with the TIE fighters.”

“Got it!”

Finn managed to get three shots in before an explosion tore their right wing apart, sending them spinning into the Jakku atmosphere. Poe tried desperately to right her trajectory and slow the decent but whatever happened they would be landing in the middle of a desert without any way of reaching out to the Resistance base unless BB-8 had somehow managed to get his message out.

It wasn’t going to work, they were coming in too fast.

“Finn, prepare to eject when I say so. Hux, lose the coat and get up here.”

“You can’t eject two people like that, Dameron,” Hux protested but he was glancing nervously at the rapidly approaching planet surface.

“Well, we’re going to try anyway. Come here. Please.”

Hux took a shaky breath and then climbed into the seat, his knees on either side of Poe’s thighs. He was tall and Poe put his hand on top of Hux’s head to protect it from hitting the low ceiling of the cockpit.

“Okay, okay, a little closer, that’s it. Put your arms around me and whatever happens do not let go ok?”

“Poe!” Finn shouted. The tan desert landscape of Jakku was closing in underneath them and the damaged TIE rocked and shuddered around them.

“Finn, eject now!”

The seat behind them released with a screech and Finn disappeared with a last gasp.

“Hux, if we don’t make it-“ Poe hesitated over the release handle.

“Shut up, Dameron,” Hux snarled and turned the handle with Poe’s hand on it before bringing it back around him and squeeze Poe’s chest so hard it hurt.

…

Poe was alive.

Everything hurt and his cheek felt like it was burning with the heat of the sun beating down on him. A sliver of a thought wondered if Hux would be red as an axii beet by now with how pale he was.

“Finn? Hux?” He muttered with his face still mostly buried in the sand.

No answer. He wrenched himself up and looked around. Sand, naturally. He could see a single impact site on a tall dune towering over him, almost like a dent in the smooth wave of the sand. Then a track leading down where they had tumbled downwards, leaving the seat and what remained of the parachute fanned out across the dune. And then Poe, and then … A black shadow lay face down even further down the valley.

Poe stumbled down the hill and fell to his knees beside Hux’s unconscious form. When Poe touched his fingers to Hux’s neck to feel for a pulse, he let out a breath and stirred. Poe helped him roll over until Hux was sprawled like a starfish in the sand, squinting at the sun.

“We need to move before the Order sends troops to the impact sites,” was the first thing out of his mouth.

“I’m glad you’re alive too, Hux”

“Can we please focus?”

“I bet the scavengers will be quicker to find the crash site than your troopers.”

“So we’re just going to wait?”

Poe shrugged and sat down in the sand carefully.

Poe looked around them to try to spot a pillar of smoke that would indicate the crash site of the TIE fighter or anything at all that might show where Finn has landed. There was nothing.

They were quiet for a while, the only noise reaching them was the wind through the sand dunes. It was still early in the day, Poe estimated and at some point they would need to shelter under the ripped parachute instead.

“I never thought I’d be back here,” Hux said quietly.

“You’ve been here before?”

“Many years ago.”

“Why would the Order come here? There are no resources to speak of.”

“When you’re building an army, there are things more precious than minerals and ore. Jakku is full of forgotten children.”

Poe felt ill.

“How long ago was this?”

“Thirty years or so. I was five.” And then Hux was quiet again. Poe stood up and brushed sand off his trousers before heading up the hill.

He was tired. He was angry. The First Order had stolen so many lives and now that he had seen the true extent of their weaponry and the frankly terrifying force that was Kylo Ren, he was stuck on a sand planet with nothing but scavengers on it. He needed to get to D’Qar now. Or at least Yavin 4 which was closer and had his X-wing.

At the top of the dune he had a great view of … more dunes. Dunes as far as the eye could see. And in the far distance, the jagged edges of downed Imperial Star Destroyers. He scanned the horizon for anything at all just to not have to look at Hux for a moment.

There was something coming their way. He heard the speeder before he saw it, a low hum and crackle of an engine that had seen better days. No First Order vehicle made that kind of noise. A light cargo speeder in a faded red colour cruised along the edge of the ridge and stopped.

“I thought I’d be the first scav here!” the scavenger yelled from a safe distance. It was a male, squat Blarina with a trunk taking up most of its face under a helmet.

“You are!” Poe yelled back,” we’re part of the scrap.” From the corner of his eyes, Poe could see Hux rise from a crouch and straighten himself out.

“Tell you what, friend, I’ll trade you the scrap we landed with and any tech I have on me for a ride to the closest outpost.” The scavenger turned the speeder on and came closer.

“Depends on the scraps,” the Blarina said shortly and jumped out of the speeder.

“First Order tech from a Special Forces TIE good enough for you?”

“Now, you’re not First Order. How did you get a hold of that?”

“Long story, but I was taken prisoner, escaped and stole a TIE. Kidnapped a First Order General.”

“I don’t believe you.” The Blarina laughed, a hissing cackle of a sound, but was eyeing the metal frame of the pilot seat with some interest.

“See that man down there? He’s the General and he’ll tell you the same thing I did. Probably at great length. And I would take this deal before the Order decides they want their tech, or their officer back.” Poe cajoled with his most charming smile, pushing the lurking danger angle a little. It hadn’t sounded like Captain Peavy was interested in taking Hux back, but the scavenger didn’t need to know that.

“Alright, I’ll take you up on that. Get your friend and to help load the speeder and tell me more about your little adventure as we go. If you amuse me, I’ll get you where you need to go.”

“We have a deal, what’s your name?”

“Naka Iit. I think I’m better of not knowing yours.”

“Suits me,” Poe laughed and turned to yell at Hux “Get up here, we have a ride.”

Hux struggled up the hill, his shiny boots clearly not designed for climbing. Or being outside. When he got up to Poe and Naka Iit, he was breathing hard and his skin had gone slightly pink from the sun. Poe was hard pressed to say it wasn’t a little adorable.

Naka Iit hissed as he laughed, clearly not impressed with the First Order’s best. Hux was too busy catching his breath but shot a nasty glare in his direction.

They quickly wrapped up the parachute and strapped the seat to the speeder’s small hold at the back. Poe and Hux squeezed in together between the cargo and Naka Iit’s seat up front.

Shoulder to shoulder with their legs pressed tightly together and being in a safe place for the first time since their soulbond connected, Poe felt a calm come over him. Or maybe it was just the adrenaline high wearing off. But the way Hux leaned ever so slightly into the touch and nervously fiddled with his gloves, told Poe he felt it too.

“Why are you still wearing those? You’ll boil.” Poe muttered, taking one of Hux’s hands in his and started pulling at the gloves to let go, finger by finger. Hux’s hand spasmed in his and went stiff for a moment before he relaxed enough to let the supple leather slip off. When he’d removed the other glove, Poe folded them carefully and put them in his own pocket. He had a sneaking suspicion that the pocket’s Hux had on his jacket were fake.

Fitting together, their hands could not be any more different. While Poe had broad hands and fingers with prominent knuckles, Hux’s hands were surprisingly lithe with long, bony fingers. Feeling along Hux’s fingers and the palm of his hands, Poe’s felt rough in comparison but also saw that Hux had thin scars across the pads of his fingers, like he had been picking up broken glass with bare hands. And in the middle of his palms were crescent moon shaped ones, from digging his fingers nails into the flesh. Hux closed his hands around Poe’s and squeezed tight.

“Where will you go next?” Hux asked quietly.

“I need to go to Yavin 4.”

“Surely the Resistance base isn’t still there?” Hux frowned. Poe was about to tell him no, but then- Hux was still a General of the First Order. Technically. They hadn’t had time to talk at all about what their soulbond might mean for them. The silence stretched until Naka Iit signaled they were closing in on Blowback Town.

Blowback Town outpost was as ugly as ever, Poe concluded when they arrived. As most outposts it looked permanently like it was about to fall apart, or be taken apart. Every face he saw was weary and sand-worn from a life in the harsh desert.

“You amused me, and while I do not have a soft heart, your new mate needs shelter. He was not made for the Jakku sun, despite his hair.” Poe had almost forgotten how melodic and beautiful Blarina could bend any language when it suited them and he smiled broadly. Hux’s glassy eyes did point towards him being well on his way to sun sickness.

Naka Iit weaved through the crowds with Poe and Hux following closely. In the distance, Poe could see the stark white armour of storm troopers glinting in the midday heat.

The building Naka Iit lead them too was owned by another Blarina, a merchant called Ohs Gon. He had a ship and, more importantly, a bleeding heart, Naka Iit informed them wryly.

“Thank you, friend,” Poe said as the Blarina turned and disappeared into the alleys of tents and merchant stands.

Ohs Gon did in fact have a sympathetic streak and as quickly as Poe had revealed their plight, hinting strongly at their status as newly found soulmates, the Blarina called for water and electrolytes for Hux and began getting his freighter, _Beloved Bophine_ , ready for take them to Yavin 4 to pick up Poe’s X-wing.

Later, sitting on one of the long seats lining the cargo hold with Hux reluctantly asleep next to him, Poe thought for some time about the kindness of strangers that made the fight against the Order both possible, and worth it.

In just an hour or two, they would land on Yavin 4 and Poe would somehow wrestle Hux into his X-wing and take him to D’Qar. But before that, they needed to have a talk. Openly, or as openly as they could manage when being on the opposite side of the war. The Order threw Hux aside, shot at him with giant lasers in fact. That had to count for something.

It hurt, but until they could talk, Poe had to tamper the small spark of hope in his chest unless it grew into an uncontrolled fire.

Hux woke up just before they exited hyperspace, like his body knew the signs of a ship about to drop out of it, and sat up in the fluid motion of someone who had lived aboard starships all his life. He reached for a few sips of the hydrobottle at his side that they had filled with electrolytes and barely made a face at the salty, tepid taste.

When they landed, Ohs Gon saw them to the bottom of the ramp and received the same heartful thank you from Poe as his friend Naka Iit. Hux said nothing and instead stared at the looming pyramids next to the landing pad, worrying his lower lip with his teeth.

After the war, the Rebels had abandoned their bases at Yavin 4. But as many of the soldiers and pilots returned home to the moon, they made use of the repurposed temples to function as make-shift space ports for the people who knew how to find them.

“Poe, anything I can do to help you? Your father didn’t mention you’d come by.” A woman in a tan flight suit with engine grease on it had crossed the runways and approached them.

“Any way I could get my X-wing ready for flight. It’s kind of important.” She caught his gaze, looked at Hux briefly and nodded.

“One hour. There is still food and a change of clothes too where you left it. You look like you need it.”

Poe led them past the landing pads, towards the base of the pyramids, keeping himself between any of the base operation and Hux at all time. They really needed to get him some new clothes, if he would accept it. Inside the hangars it was dark and cool. They could slip between crates and parked ships to reach the small, private bunks that were till in use for pilots between flights. Poe and Des had their own room here and Poe was more grateful for it now than ever before.

Hux looked even more out of place in the rundown little room than perhaps even on Jakku. The tight space forced him to stand pressed against the door if he didn’t want to get in Poe’s way as he dug through the large storage trunk on the floor. He was careful not to touch the walls though, because even as the temples had been used for many years as a military base, there was still something organic and distinctly _alive_ about the walls of the place.

“I have a change of clothes here if you want them. They might be a little short on you, but …” the _much better than walking around in First Order gear on a former Rebel base_ went unsaid.

Hux reached out and took the clothes carefully and examined them. The shirt was a technically a long-sleeved undershirt to wear under heavy flight gear, but the dark blue fabric was soft and comfortable. He put the change of clothes on the lower bunk and began undoing the hidden clasps of his officer’s jacket.

It was a fascinating ritual to watch. Like watching a man shed his skin, piece by piece. Hux moved with economic precision after a lifetime wearing of wearing and removing the same clothes day after day. He shrugged off the jacket and folded it over the rungs of the bunk ladder, then sat down to remove his knee-high boots. He was narrower across the shoulders and chest than the rigid figure the jacket cut, Poe noted.

Poe let his gaze slide down a bare shoulder and down to what looked like a brace around Hux’s lower arm. It looked like a series of straps supported by a thin exoskeleton of light-weight metal.

“It’s a blade,” Hux said, catching Poe staring. He stretched his arm out away from Poe and did a flicking motion with his hand, extending the arm. There was a sound like a whisper, so low that Poe almost didn’t catch it but nothing seemed to happen. Then Hux angled his arm and for a less than a second, something reflected the lights from the overhead bulk.

“Monomolecular?” Poe asked, fascinated. “How do you even kill people with that?”

“Very carefully. And slowly”, Hux said and with a small motion, the blade retracted into its sheath.

The dark brown trousers were indeed a little too short and much too wide at the waist but tucked into Hux’s boots and with a borrowed belt, he looked like any other person. A little worn around the edges and not just the shape of a human as idealized by the First Order.

Hux looked at Poe from his position on the bed, his hands twitching against his knees where he rested them.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Poe said and reached into his pocket and retrieved the gloves. He crouched on the floor in front of Hux and lifted his hands one by one to fit the gloves back on. He carefully didn’t meet Hux’s gaze when he finished even when he could feel his eyes on him, hot like a brand.

“Will you come with me?” He asked.

Hux didn’t answer but put his gloved hand on Poe’s cheek and angled his face upwards. This close, Poe could see that Hux did in fact have flecks of grey and green in his eyes. He leaned into the palm of Hux’s hand and breathed in the scent of clean leather.

“I can give you information on the Order,” Hux said, his voice quiet but urgent as he pressed on. “There are plans for an attack on the Hosnian system and there’s a base-“ He stopped and leaned down so that they were almost nose to nose. “I want to tell you before it’s too late.”

“You’ll give it all up, just like that?” Poe asked.

“Loyalty is for troopers. Officers are trained only for one thing.” Hux swallowed and wetted his lips, a quick flash of tongue and teeth against plush, rosy flesh.

“And what’s that?”

“To take what we want,” Hux finally angled his face just so and slotted their lips together. Poe reached up to cup Hux’s neck and surged up to meet him. The soft glide of lips felt exploratory, feeling out the right angle and pressure to make the other gasp.

A quick rap on the door startled them out of their embrace. Hux quickly dropping his hand from Poe’s face and staring at the door like the person on the other side might burst in at any moment. Poe stood up but didn’t let go of his grounding hold on Hux’s neck.

“Poe, are you in there? Your ship is waiting on landing pad four when you’re ready.” And then the sound of steps receding.

“We’re ready.”


End file.
